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This brief but rich book introduces English"speaking scholars to ground"breaking research from Helsinki University that casts Martin Luthers soteriology in a new light. The new Finnish interpretation of Luther finds the essence of his doctrine of salvation not in forensic justification"God declaring us just solely by virtue of Christs sacrifice"but in something more akin to the Eastern Orthodox doctrine of theosis , or deification.
Dr. Tuomo Mannermaa has spearheaded the Finnish Luther research project for more than twenty years. In this volume he is joined by four of his colleagues (Simo Puera, Antti Raunio, Sammeli Juntunen, and Risto Saarinen) in distilling the fruits of their labors in seven essays. The editors of Union With Christ contribute a preface, and responses are included from Robert Jenson, Carl Braaten, William Lazareth, and Dennis Bielfeldt.
Mannermaa expounds the books thesis as follows: According to Luther, Christ (in both his person and his work) is present in faith and is through this presence identical with the righteousness of faith. The idea of a divine life in Christ who is really present in faith lies at the very center of the theology of the Reformer. The forensic element in Luthers doctrine of justification is thus viewed by the Finns as a function of his central emphasis on the believers actual participation in the divine life through union with Christ.
This in turn means, in the words of the books editors, that for Luther righteousness as an attribute of God in Christ cannot be separated from his divine being. The righteousness of God that is ours by faith is therefore a real participation in the life of God. To ascribe such views to the German Reformer flies in the face of the German Protestant tradition, which has notoriously read Luther under the spell of neo"Kantian presuppositions that ignore all ontology found in Luther and instead define faith as purely an act of the will with no ontological implications [such as the believers actual participation in the divine nature].
Mannermaa cites the German philosopher Hermann Lotze as one such neo"Kantian culprit whose ontology denies the idea of being in itself in favor of the notion of things standing in relationship and having no real existence apart from the effects they have on each other. An epistemological corollary of Lotzes ontology is that things in themselves cannot be objects of human understanding, but only their effects. Lotzes approach places an epistemological gap between knowledge of Christs person (object, being) and of his work (effects).
Luther, on the other hand, does not distinguish between the person and work of Christ. Christ is both favor of God (forgiveness of sins, atonement, abolition of wrath) and gift ( donum ). Faith means justification precisely on the basis of Christs person being present in it as favor and gift.
The fact that favor and gift are inextricably connected means, as Pueras essay notes, that the gift of spiritual renewal in Christ is not only a consequence of grace [favor], as is usually emphasized in Lutheran theology, but it is in a certain sense a condition for grace as well (emphasis added). This notion of conditional grace (as opposed to modern Lutheran and Reformed emphasis on unconditional grace) springs from Luthers rejection of late Scholasticisms concept of created grace. Whereas Scholasticism defined grace as a quality, an accident adhering to the human being considered as substance, Luther sided with the interpretation of Peter Lombard, who claimed that the Holy Ghost himself is the love ( caritas ) of a Christian. In this way Luther does not separate Gods essential nature ontologically from the divine attributes effecting salvation.
Luthers rejection of both Scholastic and Enlightenment dualisms leads Mannermaa to place him alongside the classical realist epistemology of Thomas Aquinas, who taught that the Being of the known thing itself is present in the knower and that knowing and that which is known are identical. This leads Mannermaa to conclude: Whatever Luthers stance on nominalism may be, in his theology, at least, he follows this classical [realist] epistemology quite explicitly from beginning to end.
Since for Luther Christ . . . is pres ent in faith and is through this presence identical with the righteousness of faith, it follows that the first commandment of the decalogue de mands trust and faith solely in the Trinity. This is because for Luther, To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe him with our whole heart. Puera therefore concludes that the requirement to believe in God . . . is basically the same as the commandment to love God purely.
Raunios essay on Natural Law and Faith in Luthers thought moves from the idea of loving God to loving ones neighbor. Here Raunio combats what he calls the common dualistic interpretation of Luthers understanding of natural law, which makes a distinction between worldly natural law and a divine natural law of love. To the contrary, says Raunio: To my knowledge, no one has recognized that natural law, that is, the Golden Rule, is from the beginning for Luther the law of divine nature, or the law of divine love. This in turn calls into question traditional Lutheran interpretations of Luthers two kingdoms doctrine, which tend to relegate natural law and obedience to commandments to the temporal kingdom. Raunio counters: This distinction [between two kingdoms, or between the letter and spirit of the law] does not imply . . . that the content of the law changes. The letter of the law is the demand of divine law, though it cannot guarantee the fulfillment of the law.
The new Finnish perspective on Luther offers a refreshing corrective not only to the post"Enlightenment dualism of German Lutheran scholarship, but also to neo"evangelical Protestantisms tendency to define justification solely in forensic terms. It opens doors of ecumenical common ground by placing Luthers thought within the context of classical Christian traditions that preceded the Reformation, as opposed to emphasizing Luthers historically unprecedented notional distinction between Christs imputed righteousness (justification) and inherent righteousness (sanctification). It likewise counters historic and contemporary caricatures of Luthers two kingdoms doctrine, including the thesis of William Shirer ( The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich ) that Luthers theology of the two kingdoms opened the door to the Nazi subversion of the Lutheran Church in Germany and, ultimately, to the Holocaust.
Weaknesses in this first"rate work are few. There are no indices, and the overlapping of themes in the essays necessarily results in what some may deem redundancy. On a more substantive note, three of the four responses to the Finnish essays (by Jenson, Braaten, and Lazareth) are laudatory almost to a fault. Only Bielfeldt, in response to Juntunens essay Luther and Metaphysics, engages in any meaningful critique, thereby demonstrating that he takes seriously the central question of whether the Finnish perspective on Luther is indeed true , as opposed to merely being useful for ecumenical dialogue.
Bielfeldt also notes that the Finns are adept at discovering key passages (often in the early Luther), and ingenious in interpreting them in support of a comprehensive systematic vision built around deification. He then wonders whether or not the Finns might not be as tied to their presuppositions as were the neo"Kantian German Lutherans. He adds, I hope this is not the case.
Bielfeldts reference to the early Luther pinpoints a rather significant omission in Union With Christ . This is the Finnish schools failure to distinguish between what Bielfeldt calls the early Luther and Luthers later writings. Alister McGrath has briefly noted, in his groundbreaking Iustitia Dei , that prior to 1530 much of Luthers writing set forth what McGrath terms a sanative view of justification wherein not only forgiveness but also healing were contained under the rubric of justification. This is most evident in Luthers Lectures on Romans (1515; see especially his comments on Romans 4:7), and to a lesser extent in his 1519 Commentary on Galatians .
By the time Luthers 1535 Galatians commentary appeared, however, he had set forth the emphatic distinction between forgiveness (justification) and healing (sanctification) that was later adopted by Calvin and the Reformers. For example, in his comments on Galatians 5:6 (faith working itself out in love) he stated that the faith here was not justifying faith: [Paul] is not talking about justification.
But the context of Galatians 5:6 includes Galatians 5:4, where Paul makes it clear that he is talking about justification: You are severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by the Law. The apparent reason Luther refused to identify faith working itself out through love ( fides caritate formata ) with justification is because he perceived that Rome had used the same phrase to argue that works must be added to faith (which Paul does not say). The force of polemics carried the day.
The question therefore needs to be explored whether it is the early Luther, rather than the later Luther, who offers more promise in the arena of ecumenical dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Reformation tradition.
Ted Dorman is Professor of Biblical Studies at Taylor University and author of A Faith for All Seasons: Historic Christian Belief in Its Classical Expression (Broadman Holman).
Union With Christ: The New Finnish Interpretation of Luther
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Burning Bush - Hořicí Keř
Director Agnieszka Holland and star Tatiana Pauhofova in person for Q&A on October 4!
In January 1969, Czech student Jan Palach set himself on fire to protest the Soviet clampdown that followed Prague Spring. The terrible historical moment that formed the backdrop of Palach's heroic action is recalled to vivid life in this passionately brilliant mini-series. Agnieszka Holland and writer Stepan Hulik trace the ripples of Palach's defiant gesture throughout Czech society and the moves and counter-moves it set in motion by coercive and the coerced, the terrified many and the courageous few: the young Dagmar Buresova (Tatiana Pohofuva) represents Palach's defiant mother (Jaroslava Pokorná) in a libel suit against a member of parliament (Martin Huba); her law partner (Adrian Jastraban) is strong-armed into collaborating in order to protect his firebrand daughter (Jenovefa Bokova); a secret police officer (Ivan Trojan) grows disillusioned by his unpalatable job. Holland was in Czechoslovakia at the time these events took place and it makes a difference: you feel like you're breathing the very air of Czechoslovakia under totalitarian lockdown. Burning Bush is the Czech Republic's official submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Oscars!
Travel support generously provided by the Polish Cultural Institute of New York and the Polish Film Institute.
Don't miss our HBO Directors Dialogue with Agnieszka Holland on October 5!

subset: commoncrawl


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An autumn wedding amongst the redwoods in Corralitos, CA
Meaghen and Nik got married on a foggy September day on the 104 acres of redwood forests in the Santa Cruz Mountains otherwise known as the Pema Osel Ling Retreat Center. The bride and groom both went to school in Santa Cruz and were compelled to trek back out there from L.A. for their wedding at a buddhist retreat. Their incredibly dreamy ceremony in the "Amphitheatre of the Redwoods" led to a celebration with beer, lawn games, camping, playing guitar and laughing in the rain. Let's Frolic Together captured these lovely images and had beautiful words to describe Meaghen and Nik's day.
The day started by waking up to a morning of forest shrouded in a thick fog — a dense and mystic haze that permeated every little corner of the beautiful land that is the Pema Osel Ling Buddhist Retreat. Campers were parked beneath looming redwoods, and a glowing green pond was punctured with ripples. Hidden paths cloaked in mood sprawled out in every direction, between tall, tall trees. A hike to a family breakfast gathering in a cabin tucked away led to rallying the troops to get ready. Of course, this involved dueling guitars on the porch and suit-and-tie cornhole in the haze. Nestled in cabins, last-minute grooming, pinning, preening, and laughing welcomed arriving guests. Suddenly, just as the ceremony was meant to start, the sun peeked out, and amidst buddhas and strummed guitars the march into the trees began as these two soulful gems hitched their lives together.
As Meaghen said her vows, mentioning being there for each other even in tough times, the sky opened up and the rains fell… just for a few minutes. It's like the weather was in cahoots with their wedding plans. This was the kind of wedding in which laughter abounded. And then suddenly, it was just the two of them, snuggling in the trees, walking through forest tunnels, and basking in the twinkling droplets sitting on all the boughs. I love how many people camped for this wedding, even in the midst of unexpected weather. This was the feeling. The wonderful, mountain-air, wild-and-free feeling. The festivities, protected under a tent in an open field, were a true delight. Celebrating on the autumnal equinox, this was exactly the fall fix I needed. The amazing homemade apple butter treat and gorgeous florals didn't hurt, either. Swoon. We danced for hours, and when the official event shut down, the after party headed to yet another cabin, where we danced for several more hours, not to mention played some more cornhole, knocked back a whole bunch of booze, and celebrated an amazing love, and an amazing day, celebrating who they are, who they love, and who they will be in the future. – Jasmine
- Photographer: Let's Frolic Together
- Band: Ben Scharf & Bret Hammer
- Dress Designer: Bonny Bridal
- Cake Designer: Buttercup Cakes
- Shoes: Converse, Ugg
- Dress Store: David's Bridal
- Makeup Artist: Jamie Leonard
- Cinema and Video: Kevin Martinez
- Floral Designer: The Bow Collective
- Tuxedo and Mens Attire: Marc Ecko
- Reception Venue: Pema Osel Ling Retreat Center
- DJ: Scott Trugman
- Event Planner: Shaunah Stolaroff


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Arguably, Microchip's PIC microcontrollers do not get enough posts here. One of the drawbacks for some of us is that Linux support for PICs is not very well known. The information is out there, but no one has laid out the process of going from writing C code to programming a chip. Written for Linux users that are familiar with microcontrollers, basic circuits, the C programming language, and can read a datasheet, this how-to should get you up and programming a PIC quickly with Linux.
The Compiler:
The Small Device C Compiler, sdcc is what will be used to create the .hex file needed to program a PIC. Support for PICs is still growing, and still in beta, so be aware that things outside the code and chips of this article may need some debugging. However, like every other open source project out there, more contributing users will help the project. Best of all, it is free, with ports to Windows and MacOS X, this is a compiler that handles many architectures and devices without the program limit of free versions of for-pay compilers that are limited to Windows. Sdcc is available through various distributions' package managers including Ubuntu and Fedora.
To install sdcc on Ubuntu:
sudo apt-get install sdcc
To install sdcc on Fedora:
sudo yum install sdcc
The Chips:
Three different PIC chips were used in the writing of this tutorial: the 40 pin PIC16F887, the 14 pin PIC16F688, and the 8 pin PIC12F675. You can follow along with any of these chips as well as other chips.
The Programmer:
We will be using two programmers, Olimex's PICStart+ compatible PIC-MCP-USB programmer, and Microchip's PICkit 2. Both programmers have been tested to work with the three chips used here.
The PICStart+ programmers use the picp program. Most any PICStart+ compatible programmer will work with picp. Easily installed in Ubuntu with:
<pre>sudo apt-get install picp
For Fedora and other distributions may have to download and install it from source. So, in an empty directory of your choosing:
wget http://home.pacbell.net/theposts/picmicro/picp-0.6.8.tar.gz tar -xzf picp-0.6.8.tar.gz cd picp-0.6.8 make sudo make install
The source is on [Jeff Post]'s Development Tools for PIC programmers page along with other programming options.
If you will be using the PIC16F887 and picp, you will need to modify your /etc/picp/picdevrc file by adding the following lines:
[16F887] 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PICSTART [16F887:def] 20 00 3f ff 3f ff 00 7f 00 7f 3f ff 3f ff 00 ff 00 ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 0D 10 20 00 04 20 07 02 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 22 0f [16F887:defx] 3f ff 07 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 3f ff 07 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
The above lines are modified parameters for PIC16F886 found in a post by [Al Williams]. For chips not already in /etc/picp/picdevrc, additional parameters will need to be added to /etc/picp/picdevrc.
PICkit 2 programmers will work with another program called pk2cmd hosted by Microchip here. You will need to install pk2cmd from source. so in a directory of your choosing:
wget http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/pk2cmdv1.20LinuxMacSource.tar.gz tar -xzf pk2cmdv1.20LinuxMacSource.tar.gz cd pk2cmdv1.20LinuxMacSource make linux sudo make install
Note that Microchip touts the PICkit 3 as a replacement for the PICkit 2. It is not a replacement for the PICkit 2 as there are no Linux drivers for the PICkit 3, so do not buy the PICkit 3 thinking it will work in Linux.
There is also another program that claims to work with a range of DIY PIC programmers: PICPgm. We have not tried this program or any of the DIY programmers at this point. We know there are other PIC programmers out there, both cheap and expensive, that have not been mentioned. Perhaps a PIC programmer roundup is in need of writing.
The Code:
The code for this how-to is a kind of hello world program using LEDs. The code for this is hosted on Github, you can follow along with the blink.c file for the PIC16F887, PIC16F688, or PIC12F675. Also included are working .hex files. Here is the PIC16F887 code as a reference as we walk through each major operation:
//Simple program to get started programming //PIC microcontrollers in Linux. //Written by Devlin Thyne. //Released to the public domain. #include "pic/pic16f887.h" //Use these configuration words: //0x2ff4 0x3fff //Set the configuration words: unsigned int at _CONFIG1 configWord1 = 0x2FF4; unsigned int at _CONFIG2 configWord2 = 0x3fff; //To compile: //sdcc -mpic14 -p16f887 blink.c //To program the chip using picp: //Assuming /dev/ttyUSB0 is the serial port. //Erase the chip: //picp /dev/ttyUSB0 16f887 -ef //Write the program: //picp /dev/ttyUSB0 16f887 -wp blink.hex //Write the configuration words (optional): //picp /dev/ttyUSB0 16f887 -wc 0x2ff4 0x3fff //Doing it all at once: erasing, programming, and reading back config words: //picp /dev/ttyUSB0 16f887 -ef -wp blink.hex -rc //To program the chip using pk2cmd: //pk2cmd -M -PPIC16f887 -Fblink.hex //Setup variables unsigned char ucharCount = 0; unsigned int uintDelayCount = 0; void main(void) { //Set PORTC to all outputs TRISC = 0x00; ucharCount = 0; uintDelayCount = 0; //Loop forever while ( 1 ) { //Delay Loop while ( uintDelayCount < 10000 ) { //Increment the loop counter uintDelayCount++; } //Reset delay loop counter uintDelayCount = 0; //Increment the count ucharCount++; //Display the count on the PORTC pins PORTC = ucharCount; } }
The first line is the #include for the header file of the particular chip you will be using. It tells the compiler which registers are available and where they are located in memory. In most systems, the header files will be in /usr/share/sdcc/include.
Then we setup the configuration word or words fuses. They are only able to be written when the chip is programmed, but we can define them here so we don't have to manually program them later. The PIC16F887 has the address for the configuration words defined in its header file as _CONFIG1 and _CONFIG2. The PIC16F688 and PIC12F675 do not have the configuration word address defined in their header (we said sdcc was in beta, didn't we?), so we just use the address of the configuration word: 0x2007. The configuration words are specific to the chip model and application and are described in the chapter "Special Features of the CPU" in each of the respective chips' datasheets. In the blink.c samples, the configuration word is just a 16bit hexadecimal word, but the word can be made more human readable by ANDing together the configuration options. Check out the chips' header files for the names of the options.
Next, we setup some global variables, one for the value that will be output on the LEDs and the other for a delay counter.
In the void main(), we set the PORTC tristate register, TRISC to all outputs. The PIC12F675 has only one port, GPIO, and its tristate register is TRISIO. After setting the tristate register, we enter an infinite loop with while(1). Inside that loop is a delay loop so that we can see the LEDs changing. Following the delay loop, the display counter is incremented and then written to PORTC (or GPIO) for display on the LEDs.
Compiling the Code:
Now that we have reviewed the code, it is time to turn it into something a PIC can use. sdcc will take the blink.c file and make a bunch of files. One of these files will be blink.hex which will be what the PIC device programmer will be writing to the PIC. Here's how:
For the PIC16F887:
sdcc -mpic14 -p16f887 blink.c
For the PIC16F688:
sdcc -mpic14 -p16f688 blink.c
For the PIC12F675:
sdcc -mpic14 -p12f675 blink.c
The -mpic14 option tells sdcc that it will be compiling for the 14-bit instructions of the PIC16 and PIC12 families. The second option is the specific chip that code will be compiled for. The last thing on the line is the file containing the C code that will be compiled.
Programming the Chip:
To program a chip you will take your device programmer and connect the chip you want to load with your program. Unless you are using a socket programmer like the PIC-MCP-USB, you will need to consult the datasheets of the programmer and the chip to be programmed for the proper connection. Once properly connected, you will need to run the program to run the programmer:
For a PICStart+ programmer on /dev/ttyUSB0 programming a PIC16F887 :
picp /dev/ttyUSB0 16f887 -ef -wp blink.hex -rc
For a PICkit 2 programmer programming a PIC16F887:
pk2cmd -M -PPIC16f887 -Fblink.hex
If you are programming another chip, or the PICStart+ programmer is on a port besides /dev/ttyUSB0, you will need to make corresponding changes to the commands.
Note: The code provided for the PIC16F887 disables low-voltage programming. Some of the programmers available but not directly mentioned only perform low-voltage programming. If you have one of these programmers, you will need to change the code so that the low-voltage programming bit in the configuration words allows for low-voltage programming. The low-voltage programming pin on the microcontroller will also need to be pulled low during normal operation.
Wire the Circuit:
The circuit for this project with the code provided is really simple to breadboard. Below are the schematics for the three chips:
Start out by connecting the Vdd pins to a positive voltage source between 4.5 volts and 6 volts and the Vss pin to ground. The 40 pin PIC16F887 and the 14 pin PIC16F688 will both need a pullup resistor on their master clear pin. To any one or all of the PORTC pins (or GPIO pins for the PIC12F675), connect LEDs with current-limiting resistors to ground. Note that pin 4 of the PIC12F675 is only an input and will not light an LED. The current out of any pin of the three chips used is limited to 20mA, so the current-limiting resistors are optional for most cheap jellybean LEDs. What you should see when you power up the circuit are blinking LEDs. The LEDs should be lighting to a binary count.
Your turn!
Now that we have given you a start with programming PICs using Linux, we hope to see more projects using these chips and the tools we have mentioned above. Though this article was written for Linux users, Windows and MacOS X users should be able to use sdcc for their PIC programming needs.
Image information: The Tux logo is by Larry Ewing, Simon Budig, and Anja Gerwinski, via Wikimedia Commons. The Microchip logo is a registered trademark of Microchip Technology Incorporated.


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OCEAN CITY – The issue involving a former Ocean City police officer and the health of his K-9 partner stands in a state of confusion this week as evidence is unable to be produced to close the chapter on the matter.
Following last week's City Council 5-2 vote to reimburse former Pfc. Earl Campbell $6,000 for the surgery of K-9 partner Charlie, Police Chief Bernadette DiPino conducted an internal investigation and found no evidence from any veterinary hospital in the region that a surgery was actually performed.
The research was conducted because city protocol would require an invoice to be provided in order to write a check for the reimbursement. Campbell has rejected any sort of payment from the city.
On Wednesday, Mayor/Acting City Manager Rick Meehan said he received an email from DiPino on Dec. 22, and he in turn forwarded it to the City Council.
"She sent me an email stating that they were unable to locate or find a veterinary facility in the Maryland, Delaware, Virginia area that had performed any kind of operation on Charlie, so we were at a bit of a loss as to how we would be able to compensate the former officer for that bill," he said.
The memo also reported the OCPD contacted Chesapeake Veterinary Surgical Services in Annapolis. This was the facility Campbell said referred him to another veterinary surgeon and had previously operated on the dog, but DiPino reported the last contact the facility had with Campbell was back on Feb. 16, 2010.
In her memo, DiPino said the internal investigation contradicted Campbell's claims, which she believes the public has a right to know.
Earlier this month, Campbell resigned after the department reportedly was slow to retire Charlie in order to allow him to have the surgery he required. Campbell ultimately paid for the surgery.
Charlie was originally injured in May of 2009 and required surgery to repair and replace slipped discs in his back. Charlie later returned to service with the department, but scar tissue from the original surgery was causing nerve damage in the animal's back and it became evident a second surgery was needed.
By Nov. 28, Campbell knew it was time to alleviate Charlie's severe pain but he wasn't entirely sure on how to proceed. If the dog wasn't officially retired by the department, he remained town property, and Campbell felt he could not have the surgery done because the dog did not technically belong to him. It wasn't until Dec. 5 that Campbell received the retirement papers from the police department and the surgery took place.
Once the City Council decided to reimburse Campbell for the surgery, he sent a letter to the council rejecting the offer and stated that the costs of the surgery were never the issue, as well as he has never asked anybody to pay for it.
"I am not sure what transpired there, whether the operation took place or not, but Pfc. Campbell has stated he does not want, or has never requested to be reimbursed," Meehan said. "So I guess that is his personal decision whether he releases that information [surgery invoice] if he has it, or if he chooses not to."
This week Campbell did not want to comment on the matter but expressed that he and his family wish to move on from the issue as a result of serious threats being made against him and his children.
"If his personal feelings are that it is over and he would like to move on, I support that decision," Meehan said. "I think that we should all move on."
The mayor added that the council members who did vote to reimburse Campbell for Charlie's surgery costs had reasons in doing so, including compassion for the animal.
"I would hope that the officer would recognize that and would supply that bill in support of those that did vote to reimburse, whether or not he chooses to be reimbursed or not," he said.


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Turns out hotel guests don't like getting charged for something they can widely get for free outside the hotel. In the latest hotel-satisfaction survey, properties that charge for wi-fi received significantly lower ratings than those offering wi-fi for free.
Only 11% of hotel guests report being charged for wi-fi, according to J.D. Power's new hotel-satisfaction-index study. Free wi-fi is now fairly standard at chain restaurants, and based on the hotel survey's results, paying for wi-fi has become the exception among hotel guests.
And it's the exception in a bad way: hotels that tack on fees for wi-fi received costs-and-fees satisfaction scores of 688 (on a 1,000-point scale) on average, which is 76 points lower than hotels that don't charge such fees. But it's difficult to tell how such scores translate to the guest experience.
(MORE: $22.6 Billion in Airline Fees Last Year — and New Fare Hikes to Boot)
Suffice it to say that, given the near ubiquity of free wi-fi nowadays, today's hotel guests are more displeased than they were in the past with the prospect of forking over cash to surf the Web in a hotel — having already forked over the cost of the room. In the press release announcing the study's results, Jessica McGregor, J.D. Power's senior manager of the global travel and hospitality practice, offered the following analysis:
Guests enjoy wi-fi for free in many places outside of their hotel experience, such as in coffee shops, restaurants and other locations, setting expectations against which hotels are compared … When guests learn they have to pay for Internet or when connection speeds are slow at a hotel, they are much more dissatisfied than they were in the past.
The study named the top-rated hotel brands in various categories — midscale limited, economy, upscale, extended stay — and many of the winners, including Drury Hotels, Homewood Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, SpringHill Suites and Omni Hotels, offer free Internet access to guests (the latter only for members of its loyalty program, but it's free to join).
(MORE: Got Money to Burn? Top 10 Conspicuously Expensive Purchases)
Surprisingly, while the Ritz-Carlton received the overall highest score in the study (864), its properties charge for wi-fi. At the Ritz-Carlton's Central Park location in New York City, for example, rooms that start at around $600 a night include a free newspaper of choice, but wi-fi access costs an extra $14 per day. Wi-fi charges have been a top complaint among Ritz-Carlton guests at least since 2010, but apparently the grumbling hasn't cause the hotel to change its policy.
Brad Tuttle is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @bradrtuttle. You can also continue the discussion on TIME's Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.


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The first organized push to open up the Church of Jesus Chris of Latter-day Saints' all-male priesthood to women is attracting attention from a range of Mormons across the country.
The budding movement, known as Ordain Women, created a website with personal profiles of church members — including a current LDS bishop — who describe their lives, commitment to the Utah-based faith and reasons they want women to hold the priesthood.
"While women perform significant service in the church's auxiliaries, such as the Primary [for children], Relief Society [for women], Sunday School and Young Women's organizations, their contributions are always mediated and under the direction of male priesthood leaders," the site's mission statement says.
The group quotes Mormon founder Joseph Smith, saying he hoped to make the all-woman Relief Society "a Kingdom of Priests," and sees female ordination as realizing that vision.
This priesthood push is "an act of faith," said Kate Kelly, an international human rights lawyer in Washington, D.C., and one of Ordain Women's founders — "faith that the church can change, faith that our efforts will be respectfully received, and faith that others will join us."
The LDS Church responded by emphasizing that God loves both genders equally.
"The worth of a human soul is not defined by a set of duties or responsibilities," spokeswoman Jessica Moody said in a statement Tuesday. "In God's plan for his children, both women and men have the same access to the guidance of his spirit, to personal revelation, faith and repentance, to grace and the atonement of his son, Jesus Christ, and are received equally as they approach him in prayer."
But a male-only priesthood "was established by Jesus Christ himself," Moody said, "and is not a decision to be made by those on Earth."
That's precisely why Kelly, a lifelong Mormon who served an LDS mission to Barcelona, Spain, married in the Salt Lake Temple and is a devout member, hopes church leaders will seek divine guidance on the question.
And she is not alone.
Though the number of Ordain Women profiles is relatively small — about two dozen so far — the two-week-old website has garnered more than 100,000 page views, Kelly said, and her local LDS leaders, male and female, have been supportive.
"We sustain the prophet and the Quorum of Twelve Apostles and ask them to prayerfully consider this change," she said. "We believe that what we are doing demonstrates our faith in the gospel."
Opening up the priesthood "would change the way Mormon women see themselves and live their lives," Kelly said. "It would be a way they can invest in and improve the church as an institution."
Besides that, she views female ordination as helping the church hold on to its young women.
Kelly points to a 2011 self-reported survey of about 3,000 Mormons who no longer believe in the church that found 63 percent of all women and 70 percent of single women cited gender issues as being the primary reason for their loss of faith.
Ordaining women could be, Kelly said, "a retention effort."
This pitch for priesthood follows other activist drives to allow women to wear pants to church and to offer prayers in LDS General Conference.
However, priesthood ordination may not be a desired goal for most Mormon women.
In a survey of U.S. religion, authors Robert Putnam and David Campbell, in their 2010 book, "American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us," found that 90 percent of LDS women opposed female ordination in their church (only 52 percent of Mormon men were against it).
But even some Mormon feminists appear divided on the issue and its aim at altering the fabric of the church on a national scale.
"I love the grass-roots attitude that we can take our experiences into our own hands and shape them," said Neylan McBaine, founder of The Mormon Women Project, which showcases diverse, talented and strong LDS women. "But this particular movement [Ordain Women] doesn't resonate with me. My philosophies apply to local and individual levels. I am uncomfortable with movements that take on the church as a whole because I'm afraid that by overreaching we have no influence at all."
Last summer, McBaine, a creative director at Bonneville Communications, offered a list of potential changes — short of ordination — that would enhance the spirituality and visibility of women and girls in LDS services and programs.
Some have suggested, for instance, that women could serve as witnesses at baptisms, hold their babies during naming blessings or conduct young women's worthiness interviews.
Activists should change the message, she advised, from "' ' Let us have the priesthood' to ' We are capable of doing more. What else can we do to help?' "
Sheri Dew, president of LDS Church-owned Deseret Book (a publisher of LDS literature) and a former counselor in the faith's General Relief Society presidency, has said in recent speeches how empowered she and other Mormon women are without the priesthood.
"We pray in public meetings, we speak, we expound scripture, we teach the doctrine ... we lead organizations," Dew said in a November 2012 "Time Out for Women" presentation posted on YouTube. "We teach the gospel on proselytizing missions. ... Women participate in ordinances that are decidedly of a priestly character in the House of the Lord [Mormon temples]. Nothing is held back from us."
Mormon women, Dew said, "get everything that our Father [in Heaven] is willing to give those who qualify to be joint heirs with his Son."
To see more documents/articles regarding this group/organization/subject click here.


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American University
Center for Environmental Policy Coordinating Water Technology Partnership
The Center for Environmental Policy is coordinating the Water Technology Initiative of the Partnership on Technology Innovation and the Environment. The partnership was formed by a group of federal agencies, universities and nonprofit organizations as one of the outcomes of the technology market summit that was held on campus in May 2012.
Its goal is to promote innovation in three water-technology areas: drinking-water monitoring and smart metering, monitoring nutrients and other nonpoint source pollution, and leveraging the economic benefits of wastewater treatment technologies. The project will culminate in a workshop to be held on campus in June.


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According to the Spanish news site Solomoto, Honda is about to launch a bike based off their EVO 6 concept. The EVO 6 debuted at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2007 as Hondas stab at making a hypermotard built off the Goldwing 1800cc motor.
Current Honda President, Takeo Fukui, promised that before he left Honda the company would build a bike as innovative as the EVO 6 concept. Fukui is slotted to be replaced by Takanobu Ito at the end of this month, so the rumor fits with that promise made two years ago. Also fitting this announcement is the unveiling of Honda's upcoming factory in Kumamoto, which will take up production of the Goldwing touring motorcycle.
This will also mean that production of the Goldwing will leave its current home in Marysville, OH. Since the EVO 6 will use the same 150hp 6-cylinder powerplant as the Goldwing, we can expect that the production of the EVO 6 will also occur in Kumamoto.
Expect Honda to adjust the concept to meet more realistic production specs. We should see a showing of the final production design sometime in the Fall, perhaps at the EICMA conference in Milan, which A&R will be attending.
Source: Solomoto30


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If you watch one of a friend's videos, Facebook will now try to get you to watch more with a new carousel of suggested videos that appears after you view one in the mobile News Feed. Reminiscent of YouTube's Related Videos, Facebook confirms the existence of this fresh laidback experience in Facebook for iOS that I spotted over the weekend. It lets you quickly watch a series of videos before jumping back to the feed.
The feature could encourage more Facebook video uploading by getting people more views and Likes on their mini-movies. It also opens up a powerful advertising opportunity to pipe in sponsored video suggestions like those served by Facebook's big new video adtech acquisition LiveRail.
After I asked, Facebook confirmed the existence of the updated mobile player, saying "this is a new feature we are testing on mobile to help people find more videos they might be interested in." For now it's only for organic video content uploaded to Facebook, doesn't include ads, and the test is only available to a subset of Facebook's users.
The suggested video player only appears after watching some people's direct uploads to Facebook, not YouTube videos or clips on other third parties. Videos in the feed autoplay, but tapping on one enlarges it to full screen. One it finishes playing in portrait mode, the video shrinks and a black video recommendation carousel of "more from [that friend] and others" appears at the bottom. You may be able to try it by watching my friend Shane Walker's cute videos of his french bulldog Monti, which activated the carousel for me.
Tapping a video swaps it into the main window. In a slick design trick, the carousel darkens while you're watching video and brightens up if you touch it to scroll through the suggestions. The carousel resembles the "related news" suggestions Facebook shows on news links in the we feed.
The carousel makes watching multiple videos in a row exceedingly easy. Rather than dumping you back on the feed when you finish the first one, it keeps the video player open. The idea seems to be that if you go through the effort to open the full-screen player, you're probably in the mood to watch more videos.
Video suggestions like this could be a big deal for Facebook.
First, the more that people watch videos, the more that people will post them. Right now Facebook is battling YouTube and Vine to own the world's user-generated videos and the monetization potential they deliver. Our collective addiction to Likes and comments incentivizes us to share whatever content receives them. YouTube hosts longer, high-production videos and Vine has stars sharing short, expertly crafted content (plus average people posting six-second ad-hoc videos). Snapchat privately transmits informal, conversational 10-seconds-or-less ephemeral shots. Facebook and Instagram, whose videos both auto-play in the feed, have an opportunity to own broadcasted clips in the ~30-second range if it can get them an audience.
Second, video views let Facebook soak up more of users' time. This attention makes Facebook more powerful by entrenching it in people's lives, denying competitors the engagement, and generating data on what content and friends people like best. Driving video views hasn't been a big focus for Facebook lately, though, as over the past few years it folded the videos section of people's profiles into a buried "Videos" album.
Third, more passive video consumption like this could be a great way for Facebook to break into smart TVs. Reading status updates from the couch could be tough and too much work, but watching video after video or a slideshow of friends' photos could be a great laidback experience.
And finally, wherever you have content discovery you have an opportunity for sponsored recommendations. Facebook could slot its new premium video ads like movie trailers into the carousel, racking up extra views it can charge top-dollar for. That will be even easier now that Facebook has agreed to buy video ad server LiveRail, which we broke the news was a $400 million to $500 million dollar acquisition. In a Facebook video ad pitch deck leaked to TechCrunch, it trumpets the ability to reach more people than TV networks.
To make this all work, Facebook really needs to update its mobile video uploading interface, which I've been saying for eight months now. It's archaic by modern standards. There's no multi-shot recording, image stabilization, filters, light enhancement, drawing, or other features found in Instagram, Vine, and Snapchat. Facebook did recently hire the founders of Switchcam, which I hope points to interest in developing a more enticing video creation flow.
If better uploading was combined with a breezy way to consume videos, Facebook could evolve past its roots in photo-sharing and become a true home for full-motion windows into our friends' lives.


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Report a Site
If you find a site that violates our User Guidelines or Terms of Service, we want you to let us know about it. Please understand that we don't always respond to these reports, but every single one is read (by a real human being), and the reported site is reviewed accordingly.
More importantly, please note that the team behind WordPress.com strongly believes in freedom of speech. WordPress.com has a vast audience spread across many cultures, countries and backgrounds with varying values and our service is designed to let internet users freely express any ideas and opinions without us censoring or endorsing them.
We take all reports seriously, but we won't remove sites just because they are offensive (even to us!). We think the right response to bad or offensive ideas is to speak out against them, not to censor them. If a site is publishing offensive content with which you don't agree, feel free to create a site to speak your own mind on the subject — you'll of course have the same rights.
If you do have a site to report, please read on.
Reporting a WordPress.com site:
If you're logged in to a WordPress.com account and stumble upon a site you'd like to report, simply click the three dots to the right of the "Follow" link in the bottom right corner of the screen, and you'll see Report this content which will allow you to send us a report for:
- content that is spam
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Clicking that link will bring up this following form.
If you're not a logged in WordPress.com user please use the form found here.
Before reporting a site with this form please verify that the site in question is hosted by Automattic. As a reminder, we have no control over self-hosted sites built using free WordPress software which may mention "Powered by WordPress.org" or something similar. Those sites use the open-source WordPress software and aren't hosted by us, so you should contact the appropriate web host with complaints.
If we receive a complaint and aren't in a position to make a determination (for example whether something is defamatory or not), we defer to the judgment of a court. Please forward any legal process relating to a site hosted on WordPress.com to firstname.lastname@example.com. If you are a member of a law enforcement agency, please contact us at email@example.com.
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We are located at 795 State Road, West Tisbury MA 02575
From Vineyard Haven
South on State Road
Bearing left at the junction of North Road (to Menemsha);
The Arboretum entrance is 0.4 miles on the right.
From Edgartown
West on the Edgartown-West Tisbury Road, bearing right onto State Road at the junction just beyond the Old Millpond. The Arboretum entrance is 1.1 miles on the left, beyond the Agricultural Society's buildings.
Public Bus Transit
The bus operated by Martha's Vineyard Transit Authority travels from the Steamship Authority Terminal in Vineyard Haven to West Tisbury (Alley's Store). This bus travels alternate routes (State Road & Old County Road) and there is a bus stop at the entrance of the Polly Hill Arboretum parking lot on State Road. On the return route, the bus can be flagged down from across the road.
Click here for Bus Directions from Every Island Town.
(These directions are valid through 12/1/2019)
For the most up-to-date schedule information, please call @ 508-693-9440 or visit www.vineyardtransit.com
Getting to Martha's Vineyard
Bus from Boston (South Station) to Woods Hole, MA
Contact Bonanza Bus Lines @ 1-800-556-3815 or www.peterpanbus.com
Ferry from Woods Hole, MA to Vineyard Haven (and Oak Bluffs in summer)
Contact Steamship Authority @ 508-477-8600 (Mashpee office)/508-693-9230 (Martha's Vineyard office)/508-540-1394 (TDD for the hearing impaired). www.steamshipauthority.com
Flying to Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard airport is served by Cape Air year-round and has seasonal service provided by US Airwarys. Contact Cape Air at 800-352-0714. https://www.capeair.com/
For more Information about Martha's Vineyard
Contact www.mvol.com


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The same Android version often looks different on phones from different manufacturers. For instance, Android GingerBread that runs on my HTC Explorer looks like this:
The same Android on the Sony Xperia U looks quite different, as seen here:
Is there any way I can get the look and feel of Sony's version of Android on my HTC? Any skin pack/transformation pack/hack/firmware replacement that might enable this?
(In a general sense, how can I customize the look and feel of my Android device to look more like that of another manufacturer?)


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RetroSound® Radio
model 'San Diego' shaft mounted twin knob radio with chrome facia and knobs designed to match the radios fitted to many classic US cars
The new generation Model "San Diego" Retro Classic Radio, with AM/FM Tuner and rear-mounted auxiliary input was created to meet the needs of classic car enthusiasts for a radio that maintains the classic in-dash look of the vehicle while offering modern playback capabilities from today's digital music sources. This is a breakthrough classic car radio offering flexible mounting options with RetroSound's patented "InfiniMount" adjustable shaft/bracket system. There's even a rear-mounted auxiliary input so you can connect your iPod®, satellite receiver, or any device that has a headphone jack on it! Modern Sound for your Classic Car!
• AM/FM tuner with 30 presets
• DAB+ digital radio
• Selectable USA/EU/Japan/AUS/RUS tuner frequencies
• Built-in amplifier (18 watts RMS/40 watts peak x 4 channels)
• Three EQ presets plus user-controlled bass, treble, fader, and balance adjustments
• Authentic push-button styling
• InfiniMount shaft/bracket system for maximum installation flexibility
• Compatible with all RetroSound® vehicle specific bezel, plate and knob kits
• Inputs: one rear auxiliary input
• Outputs: Two channel pre-amplifier outputs (rear)
• Separate power antenna and amplifier turn-on lead(s).


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System administrators - often taken for granted or ridiculed for their techie habits - today get their chance to feel loved.
July 27 has been named System Administrator Appreciation Day (as in 'Happy SAAD Day'?). This is "a special day, once a year, to acknowledge the worthiness and appreciation" of the...person who really keeps the wheels of your company turning," according to Sysadminday.com.
The site contains tips on how to thank and pamper this indispensable member of staff. It also offers pics of systems administrators in compromising positions, along with snippets of "sys admin humour" (only for the brave).
Suggested gifts for the top techie at your company include: PDA, digital camera, cake and ice cream party, radio controlled car or Java-enabled mobile phone.
In the spirit of this event, The Reg thought it would only be fair to honour our own beloved and often overlooked system administrator Simon.
Simon, who until this afternoon was blissfully unaware of the significance of today's date, was today his usual good-humoured self.
When asked what brightened up his day, he said: "Merely people being smiley and happy and saying thank you is enough, which is what all of you do anyway."
Ah, bless. But what about feeling taken for granted? "Sometimes we are forgotten at the bottom of the pile," he confessed.
Simon, consider yourself at the top of the SAAD pile. ®


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When you first get introduced to New Relic, it's easy to be overwhelmed by all the features. But like with most tools, as you slowly climb the learning curve and get familiar with the features provided out of the box, you begin to wonder how it all hangs together under the hood and if there is more you can do with what you have at hand.
Today I will look at how New Relic actually monitors transactions and how you can hook into the process. We will take a quick glance at the support provided by New Relic for monitoring background jobs and we'll also dig into New Relic custom metrics, how you would use them and the benefits you get from doing so. By the end you will have a deeper understanding of how New Relic works and be able to utilize it more fully. In other words, we will have a deeper knowledge of our tools—something every developer should strive for.
Let's begin by taking a quick look at how New Relic actually hooks-in to track the performance of your application.
This content was commissioned by New Relic and was written and/or edited by the Tuts+ team. Our aim with sponsored content is to publish relevant and objective tutorials, case studies, and inspirational interviews that offer genuine educational value to our readers and enable us to fund the creation of more useful content.
How New Relic Tracks Transactions and How You Can Do the Same
It may seem a little like magic, you include a gem in your Gemfile
gem 'newrelic_rpm'
And somehow New Relic monitors all your code. Of course it is just code, so let's see how New Relic actually instruments your app so it can begin monitoring it when the agent gem is required. We will do this in the context of a Rails 4 app.
The first place to look is newrelic_rpm.rb
, which has the following relevant code in it:
... if Rails::VERSION::MAJOR.to_i >= 3 module NewRelic class Railtie < Rails::Railtie initializer "newrelic_rpm.start_plugin" do |app| NewRelic::Control.instance.init_plugin(:config => app.config) end end end else ...
So a Railtie gets created when the Rails version is above three, this gets a NewRelic::Control
singleton instance (when it is initialized) and calls init_plugin
. When the NewRelic::Control
instance is created it figures out what framework is running (Rails 4 in our case) and loads some relevant code; we can see this in new_relic/control/class_methods#load_framework_class
. The init_plugin
method that gets executed lives in new_relic/control/instance_methods
. The interesting code here is:
... if Agent.config[:agent_enabled] && !NewRelic::Agent.instance.started? start_agent install_instrumentation load_samplers unless Agent.config[:disable_samplers] ...
The install_instrumentation
call is the important one. The implementation lives in new_relic/control/instrumentation
. Skipping over the boilerplate bits, this works out which instrumentation files it needs to load and then requires them one by one. In our case, it will load files under new_relic/agent/instrumentation/rails4
. One of the files here is action_controller.rb
, when this gets required it eventually executes the following code via some metaprogramming magic:
executes do class ActionController::Base include NewRelic::Agent::Instrumentation::ControllerInstrumentation include NewRelic::Agent::Instrumentation::Rails4::ActionController end NewRelic::Agent::Instrumentation::ActionControllerSubscriber \ .subscribe(/^process_action.action_controller$/) end
And here we get to the crux of it: ActionController::Base
(from which all your controllers inherit) gets a couple of modules included in it, the most important of which is NewRelic::Agent::Instrumentation::ControllerInstrumentation
. This is the start of how New Relic begins to monitor all your controller actions as 'transactions'. Of course, it's a somewhat simplified view and we're glossing over a lot of detail, but it gives you an idea of how New Relic monitors your code. The question is, how can you use this information?
Monitoring Custom Frameworks & Background Jobs
You're highly unlikely to find yourself in a situation where you're using a web framework that New Relic does not already have instrumentation for (in the Ruby world), but let's say you did. Knowing what we know now, we can easily manually instrument the controller actions of this custom framework. If we have a controller like this:
class CustomController def custom_action ... end end
We can instrument it like so:
class CustomController include NewRelic::Agent::Instrumentation::ControllerInstrumentation def custom_action ... end add_transaction_tracer :custom_action end
Now your controller method will be tracked like a transaction in the same way Rails actions get tracked. Of course, if you've rolled your own web framework which includes database handling code, you will need to do extra work to instrument much of that code, to allow New Relic to monitor more than just controller actions. But the general idea remains sound.
The above pattern becomes more useful when you want New Relic to track background jobs in your application. You're a lot more likely to have rolled some custom background job handling code than you are to have written your own web framework. In fact, we did just this with Tuts+ initially, although we're now migrating to Sidekiq. If you're using one of the well-known background jobs systems like Sidekiq, Resque or Delayed Job, New Relic already has instrumentation built in, but if you did roll your own, the above pattern is all you need to monitor your tasks.
For example, our custom Tuts+ background jobs were regular ruby classes that responded to the execute
method, so all we have to do is this:
class SomeBackgroundJob include NewRelic::Agent::Instrumentation::ControllerInstrumentation def execute ... end add_transaction_tracer :custom_action, category: :task end
The last bit, category: :task
, is to ensure that New Relic does not track it as a web transaction, but instead treats it as a background task and makes it appear under the background tasks tab in the New Relic UI. If we create a base class for all our jobs, we can put the instrumentation there and child classes will inherit it, so we don't have to worry about doing the above in every job class.
Customizing a Transaction Even More
Interestingly enough, even the web transactions that New Relic automatically monitors are not sacrosanct. You can, for example, add some custom parameters to be sent to New Relic for the transaction that is currently executing (if you've switched on capturing parameters).
You can do this at any point during the transaction. All you have to do is call ::NewRelic::Agent.add_custom_parameters(:key => 'value')
at any time and the parameters you pass in will get added to the parameter data you see inside New Relic. For example, if we had a controller that looked like this:
class HelloController < ApplicationController def index ::NewRelic::Agent.add_custom_parameters(:hello => 'world') end end
Slow transactions would give us the following:
This isn't all we can do. We can segment a transaction while it's running by renaming it. Let's say we want to treat a transaction as special when it is performed by a particular user. You may do something like this:
class HelloController < ApplicationController def index new_relic_name = NewRelic::Agent.get_transaction_name if current_user.name == 'Joe Customer' NewRelic::Agent.set_transaction_name("#{new_relic_name} - Joe Customer") end end end
Now this transaction will be treated as a separate transaction in the New Relic UI:
Even default New Relic instrumentation has some room for customization, but sometimes, just like Captain Kirk, you just need more power. This is where custom metrics come in.
New Relic Custom Metrics & How They Are Useful
Back in the day, you would have used custom metrics to monitor things like external service communication and use of various common tools like Redis. These days, New Relic has better ways of monitoring that stuff, so what do we need custom metrics for? I've found custom metrics to be useful in four situations:
- monitoring code that New Relic can't see
- monitoring code you don't control
- monitoring scripts
- monitoring totally custom events
Let's take a quick look at each of them.
Monitoring Code New Relic Can't See
New Relic is pretty good at breaking down the performance of your various application methods in a transaction trace, but sometimes you will see something like this in a trace:
It seems there is application code that New Relic couldn't instrument for some reason. What we can do is help New Relic (and ourselves) out with some custom metrics. We need to figure out which method New Relic had trouble monitoring and hook in some custom metrics to track how long this method took to execute. This will then appear in all subsequent traces. Let's say we have a class with a method we want to monitor via custom metrics:
class Order def amount ... end end
We can begin to track the amount
method like so:
require 'new_relic/agent/method_tracer' class Order include ::NewRelic::Agent::MethodTracer def amount ... end add_method_tracer :amount, 'Custom/amount' end
The second parameter to add_method_tracer
is the name that this custom metric will get in the New Relic UI. Metric names are slash separated strings and all custom metrics should start with 'Custom/'. You could, for example, name your custom metric as 'Custom/<class_name>/<method_name>'. At this point you will begin seeing the amount
method in your transaction traces, in the New Relic UI. But, what if our amount
method is highly complex and we want to monitor parts of it which we suspect are slow? My advice is that you should refactor your method—it's too big, but if you can't do that, you can instrument random code like so:
class Order extend ::NewRelic::Agent::MethodTracer def amount ... self.class.trace_execution_scoped(['Custom/amount/complex_code']) do ...complex code... end ... end end
Now the instrumented part of the method will be reported separately in your transaction traces. If you've previously instrumented the method itself, your new 'inner' metric will be grouped under the previous one.
This is by far the most common way you'll end up using custom metrics in your code, but let's look at the others anyway.
Monitoring Code You Don't Control
Often you may be using a library which, you suspect, is slowing down your application. New Relic won't instrument any random gem for you by default, so what can you do? You can fork the gem and add some instrumentation using the method we saw above, but an even simpler solution exists—use initializers. Let's say you're using the foobar
library which has a class Foo
with a method bar
that you suspect has some slow code in it. All you need to do is create an initializer foobar_instrumentation.rb
, and put the following in it:
require 'new_relic/agent/method_tracer' Foo.class_eval do include ::NewRelic::Agent::MethodTracer add_method_tracer :bar end
As you can see the code is very similar to what we had above, New Relic will work out a sensible name for your new custom metric based on the class and method name and you will begin to see it in your transaction traces. Use this to work out if that suspicious library is actually making your code perform badly, but don't keep this instrumentation around permanently. It spams unnecessary initializers in your Rails app and pollutes your New Relic UI with custom metrics that you don't really need to track permanently.
Monitoring Scripts
One part of web applications that is often neglected is scripts. To paraphrase a presentation I did recently—they're still production code and should be treated as such. You don't want production code to be performing badly, especially if you execute it on an ongoing basis via cron jobs (or a similar method that is not a background job in your system), so we can use New Relic to figure out if your scripts are slow.
You may instrument your script code using custom metrics as described above. It won't show up in transaction traces as it won't be part of a transaction. What you will be able to do though, is create a custom dashboard from the metrics you collect which should give you an idea if your script is performing badly.
The other thing you can do is to treat your script as a type of background job and instrument it accordingly (include NewRelic::Agent::Instrumentation::ControllerInstrumentation
and so on). It will get lumped together with other background jobs in the UI, but you don't have to worry about custom dashboards.
The only caveat with scripts is this: New Relic only sends data over the wire periodically. With a one-off script that executes quickly you will need to ensure that the collected data actually gets sent, so you may need to shut down the New Relic agent manually. A good rule of thumb is to manually start the agent at the beginning of each script and to shut it down at the end:
require 'newrelic_rpm' ::NewRelic::Agent.manual_start ... codez ... ::NewRelic::Agent.shutdown
This way you won't ever need to wonder why your data is not appearing in the UI.
Monitoring Totally Custom Events
One of the interesting things about New Relic is that it lets you take advantage of its UI and data aggregation facilities for metrics that have nothing to do with performance (in theory). For example, you may want to have some visibility on how often users sign up to your application, the frequency of sales, or the total amount users pay when they make purchases. These are more business metrics than performance ones, but if it's too much trouble to track these separately you can use New Relic to do so.
New Relic lets you record custom metrics directly via two API calls:
You can use record_metric
to track any metric that has an amount and increment_metric
is pretty self explanatory. So we may, for example, do this:
... def purchase(amount) ... ::NewRelic::Agent.record_metric('Custom/purchase_amount', amount) ::NewRelic::Agent.increment_metric('Custom/purchase_count') ... end ...
The only way for you to see these metrics in the UI would be to create some custom dashboards. I have to mention that this would be a somewhat "creative" use of the New Relic API as it's designed with performance data in mind, but it is certainly a handy thing to know when you need to throw a quick dashboard together and don't want to set up a bunch of extra infrastructure.
The Dangers of Monitoring Too Much
Of course, all this power has a cost. If you collect too many custom metrics, it can begin to slow down your application. It can also slow down the New Relic UI and make it difficult to interpret the data as New Relic will collapse similar metrics into a summary one. New Relic recommends keeping the number of custom metrics you collect below 2000. I have found that custom metrics are best used periodically. Instrument the code you need, use the instrumentation to solve the problem you're having and then remove the instrumentation. This way you get to solve your performance issues and the number of custom metrics you use is unlikely to grow too high.
We've dug into the internals of the newrelic_rpm
gem and have learned how to tell New Relic about code that you consider a web transaction. We've looked at how to alter transactions on the fly, how to monitor background jobs and the various situations where it makes sense to use custom metrics. There is much you can do with New Relic beyond the functionality it provides out of the box and you're now much more able to utilize it to its full potential. But, there is always more to learn, like how to build custom dashboards out of the metrics that you capture, or how to monitor infrastructure with plugins. We'll be covering those topics and more in subsequent articles, so make sure to check back often. And as always if you have a question, want to share your own New Relic story or just want to say hi, don't forget to leave a comment.


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Creature Capture is a fun and colorful fraction-based card game where the goal of the game is to own more of the board than your opponent! Players engage in both solo and multiplayer gameplay as they collect cards and build strategies. Opponents take turns playing their creature-themed cards to a central board, causing battles between opposing cards along the way. The victor of each battle is determined by one of three battle rules: largest number wins, smallest number wins, and closest number to ½ wins. Players can use power cards to augment any creature, allowing them to perform complex fraction-based arithmetic to win battles. Additionally, players build decks from the cards they have collected and challenge their friends to a Creature Capture duel! These duels can be played online or offline. Creature Capture currently features over 20 levels, with new levels and features on the way. Pick Creature Capture today as a fun and engaging part of your collection!
addition, capture, cards, creatures, en, fractions, math, multiplication, powers, Creature Capture
2013-03-12, 9:00pm


text:
Content on this page was developed during the 2009-2010 H1N1 pandemic and has not been updated.
- The H1N1 virus that caused that pandemic is now a regular human flu virus and continues to circulate seasonally worldwide.
- The English language content on this website is being archived for historic and reference purposes only.
- For current, updated information on seasonal flu, including information about H1N1, see the CDC Seasonal Flu website.
Interim Guidance for Management of Influenza-Like Illness aboard Commercial Aircraft during the 2009-10 Influenza Season
November 30, 2009 5:30 PM ET
This document provides interim guidance for the commercial airline industry regarding flights arriving in or departing from U.S. airports during the 2009-10 influenza season. This guidance will be updated as needed.
Commercial air travel is often characterized by the movement of large numbers of people in closed and semi-closed settings. As with other close contact environments, these settings can facilitate the transmission of influenza from person to person or through contact with contaminated environmental surfaces. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that efforts to reduce the spread of influenza on commercial aircraft focus on encouraging air carrier employees and passengers who have an influenza-like illness (ILI) not to travel. This document provides guidance for the management of ILI during and after a flight, including personal protective measures for the crew, and is meant to supplement CDC's recent guidance for employers on ways to decrease the spread of seasonal and 2009 H1N1 influenza in the workplace. See CDC's Guidance for Businesses and Employers to Plan and Respond to the 2009-10 Influenza Season.
Management of Passengers and Crew Members with ILI
Influenza-Like Illness (ILI)
Symptoms of influenza can include some or all of these symptoms: fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills, tiredness, diarrhea, or vomiting. Not everyone with influenza will have a fever (a temperature of 100° F [37.8° C] or greater). Flight crew should consider someone to have a fever if the ill person feels warm to the touch, gives a history of feeling feverish, or has an actual measured temperature of 100°F (37.8°C) or greater. Because the symptoms of influenza are not specific and most persons who have a respiratory illness are not tested for influenza, an ILI has been defined as an illness with fever or feverishness plus either cough or sore throat.
Passengers or Crew with ILI before a Flight
If a cabin or flight deck crew member or a passenger has an ILI prior to a flight, CDC recommends that he or she not board the aircraft until at least 24 hours after fever has resolved without the use of fever-reducing medications. Airline crew should also follow individual company policy if ILI develops prior to a flight. More information for travelers is available.Development of ILI in Passengers or Crew during a Flight
Crew members should take the following actions if a person develops ILI during a flight:- Minimize the number of persons directly exposed to the ill person and if possible separate the ill person from others by 6 feet without compromising flight safety
- Keep interactions with the ill person as brief as possible
- Ask the ill traveler to wear a face mask if it can be tolerated and one is available
- If a face mask cannot be tolerated, provide tissues and ask the ill person to cover his or her mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing
- Provide a plastic bag for proper disposal of used tissues
- Practice good hand hygiene and encourage others, including the ill person, to do the same
- Hands should be washed with soap and water especially after coughing or sneezing, after using the restroom, or after touching potentially contaminated surfaces or items. If soap and water are not available, an alcohol-based hand rub can be used
- Dispose of soiled material, such as items contaminated with body fluids and used personal protective equipment, in a sturdy plastic bag that is tied shut and not reopened, according to state solid waste regulations
- Report to CDC, on a voluntary basis, persons with ILI on international flights bound for the United States who require medical assistance. The need for medical assistance can be based on consultation with the airline in-flight medical consultant or per the ill person's request
- Notify the CDC Quarantine Station at or closest to the airport where you are arriving of the ill person prior to arrival or as soon as illness is noted. If unable to reach the Quarantine Station, call 866-694-4867 to speak with the Quarantine Duty Officer covering that airport
- If possible, continue operating the aircraft air conditioning or ventilation system until all passengers and crew have disembarked to maximize air circulation in the cabin and thus the filtering of virus particles. Safety concerns may preclude this step on some aircrafts.
If the ill person is a crew member, CDC recommends, in addition to the actions listed above, that the ill crew member
- Follow individual company policy for onset of illness or incapacitation during flight operations
- Discontinue work as soon as possible without impacting flight safety, and
- Return to work after fever has resolved for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications.
Quarantine officials will work with the airline and airport partners to assist with arrangements for medical transportation of the ill person, if indicated, and will implement any necessary infection control measures and surveillance activities.
Personal Protective Measures
Hand Hygiene
Routine hand hygiene is an important line of defense against the influenza virus, as well as other viruses and bacteria. Wash hands with soap and water for 15-20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub. Hands should always be washed before donning and after removing gloves and other personal protective items.Gloves
Crew members should wear impermeable, disposable gloves if they are physically tending to the ill passenger or have contact with potentially contaminated surfaces or lavatories. Crew members should avoid touching their faces with gloved or unwashed hands. Hands should be washed with soap and water or with a hand rub after removing gloves. Improper use or disposal of gloves may actually increase transmission.Face Masks and Respirators
Routine use of face masks and N95 respirators is not recommended for airline crew members (see CDC's Interim Recommendations for Face Mask and Respirator Use to Reduce 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) Virus Transmission). Crew members should consult company policies for the voluntary use of a face mask or N95 respirator.Employers that allow workers to voluntarily use an N95 respirator should review the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Respiratory Protection Standard (29 CFR 1910.134). Information for the voluntary use of respirators in the workplace may be found in Appendix D, Information for Employees Using Respirators When Not Required Under the Standard.
Post-Flight Management of Crew Exposure
Flight deck and cabin crew members and ground personnel who may have been exposed to a passenger or worker with ILI should monitor their health for 7 days after the exposure. Any of the following signs or symptoms should be reported per employer guidance: fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, tiredness, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. CDC recommends that flight deck and cabin crew members who develop ILI should remain isolated at home or in a hotel and should not travel until at least 24 hours after they are free of fever (a temperature of 100° F [37.8° C] or greater) without the use of fever-reducing medications. Flight deck and cabin crew members who develop symptoms while outside the United States should follow their airline's policy to obtain medical care overseas, if required.
Personnel at increased risk for severe complications of influenza, such as persons who are pregnant or have chronic health conditions like asthma or heart disease, should consult their primary-care or occupational health providers. Guidance for people at high risk of developing flu-related complications is available.
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text: Contact me for any AVAILABLE ORIGINAL ART, LOGOS, COMMISSION WORK or any other questions you might have concerning art on this site. I will paint to order! Get a load of my artwork for TOPP'S WACKY PACKAGES! To Buy Prints and original art, VISIT THE STORE. See my Promotional Artwork for AC Delco. See my other Big Letter Postcard Designs and Travel Art. My latest concept and Wacky Package painting for the 2023 April Fools Postcard series, "Hackers" © 2023 Topps Inc. All Rights Reserved. © 2023 Sam Gambino. All Rights Reserved. The Pinstriped Player Mug - SOLD OUT I'm privileged to be one of 24 kustom kulture artists worldwide included in the new Pinstripe Planet 2 book by Korero Books - 2010. Pages 18-23. Cover art by Makoto. Here are some new mugs and figurines I designed for the great folks at KC Hawaii. You can purchase the mugs by clicking here, and purchase the figurines by clicking here! © 2009 Sam Gambino. All Rights Reserved. Check out my new fonts Blackcat and Blackcat Fever - Buy them at FONT BROS! Also......MORT, MAURY AND MERV HAVE ARRIVED! Buy the new Bowling Moai Brothers mug and decanter set at TIKI FARM! Welcome to the official website showcasing the unique, campy art of Sam Gambino. The style reflects a fascination with those segments of American culture which brought us tikis, bowling, hot rods, Saturday night poker games and roadside attractions. The site contains images of original oil paintings, tiki sign designs and samples of published comic panels. Visit often because more artwork will be added to the site on a regular basis. |


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Guest-hosting on The Posner Show, Gabriel talks with Sarah Senk, a professor who studies trauma, about the shooting in Colorado and the immediate calls to not "politicize" the massacre. Gabriel and Sarah compare the shooting's aftermath with the reaction to another "national collective trauma," 9/11. They next discuss technology in the classroom: Has it improved pedagogy and the learning experience, or is it all hype? Gabriel gets sentimental for a pre-technologized education, but concedes that technology has its educational uses as well.
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Mylan settles suit over asthma, allergy drug
PITTSBURGH — Mylan has settled a patent infringement suit over a drug used to treat respiratory diseases, Mylan said.
The generic drug maker said it resolved a patent litigation suit filed by Shionogi and Cima Labs over prednisolone sodium phosphate orally disintegrating tablets, a generic version of Orapred ODT. Mylan is hoping to market its generic version of the drug in the 10-mg, 15-mg and 30-mg strengths. The drug is used to treat asthma and certain allergic conditions.
Under the settlement, Mylan will be able to launch its product starting in April 2014. The company said it was likely the first company to file a regulatory approval application containing a Paragraph IV certification, a legal assertion that the patent covering the branded drug is invalid, unenforceable or not at risk of being infringed.
Orapred ODT had sales of $33.1 million during the 12-month period ended in June, according to IMS Health.
Interested in this topic? Sign up for our weekly DSN Collaborative Care e-newsletter.


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A year ago, 26-year-old Mohamed Bouazizi was getting ready to sell fruits and vegetables in the rural town of Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia.
Bouazizi was the breadwinner for his widowed mother and six siblings, but he didn't have a permit to sell the goods. When the police asked Bouazizi to hand over his wooden cart, he refused and a policewoman allegedly slapped him.
Angered after being publicly humiliated, Bouazizi marched in front of a government building and set himself on fire.
His act of desperation resonated immediately with others in the town. Protests began that day in Sidi Bouzid, captured by cellphone cameras and shared on the Internet.
Within days, protests started popping up across the country, calling upon President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his regime to step down. About a month later, he fled.
The momentum in Tunisia set off uprisings across the Middle East that became known as the Arab Spring. A year after the young Tunisian became a martyr, where does the Arab world stand on demands for democracy?
Mixed Success In Egypt
Along with Tunisia, Egypt has been viewed as a victory.
Esraa Abdel Fattah, an Egyptian democracy activist known as "Facebook Girl" for her social media savvy, fought for a new Egypt. She was also an organizer for the major protest in Tahrir Square on Jan. 25.
When President Honsi Mubarak stepped down, it was thought that Egypt had completed its revolution. But now, as Egypt starts its first round of "free and fair elections," Fattah tells weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz that she isn't so sure the work is over.
"Always I am optimistic for the future of Egypt, but now I have some worry," she says. "I think maybe the result of the revolution will take longer than I expected."
Fattah says Egypt is already having major setbacks during this period of transition. And despite Mubarak stepping down, she says, the country is still in the "Mubarak regime" and life is not better than it was a year ago.
Egypt's Next Steps
Fattah is among those who say the real transition in Egypt will happen when a civilian leader is elected. The recent elections, however, put the Muslim Brotherhood ahead, which perhaps is not exactly what secular activists had in mind.
Shadi Hamid, director of research for the Brookings Institute in Doha, says he doesn't see ascendants of Islamist groups as a pitfall for the Middle East.
"None of this should be surprising," he tells Raz. "Islamists are popular, they're well organized. It was inevitable that they were going to win and dominate in these elections."
He says the Arab world is a religiously conservative place and people generally want to see Islam playing an important role in public life.
"They're a reality on the ground and the people have voted them in," he says. "America has to learn to live with political Islam."
Hamid says the U.S. should engage with the Islamist groups to understand them and learn how to work together. The sense in the region, he says, is that the Obama administration has been "on the wrong side of history." Waiting until the last moments to take action and show support for the aspirations of the people is troubling, he says.
"I think in times of historical ferment like these you need strong, bold [and] decisive leadership," he says.
In the year since the beginning of the Arab Spring, leaders have been ousted in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Yemen. At the start, it would have been hard to imagine how much the movement would spread throughout the region, Hamid says, but it certainly can't be said that it came out of nowhere.
The revolution had been building up for decades in Egypt, he says.
"I think there was a loss of faith in working within the system, and that's when people began to think more and more about civil disobedience, mass protests [and] going out in to the streets," he says. "When your political process fails you, there's really only one option left."
A Continuing Battle
If storming the streets is the only plan the activists had, then they were at a disadvantage from day one, says Raghida Dergham, a columnist and senior diplomatic correspondent for Al-Hayat, one of the leading daily pan-Arab newspapers.
Dergham believes the youth activists where hijacked by longer established Islamist groups.
"When the youths went to Tahrir Square and other places they wanted a modernist future," Dergham says. "Suddenly they were encroached upon by the very well-organized and well-experienced Islamist parties ... and they won the day."
Dergham says people should not prematurely celebrate what is being called "moderate Islam." As long as there is no separation between religion and the state, she says, there will be a huge price to be paid by much of the population in the Arab region — particularly women.
The bottom line, she says, is that the men in power will have the authority to interpret the laws set in sharia, or Islamic law.
"They have the right, in that case, to say what the laws are," she says. "If there [were] any guarantees that there will be a civil constitution that would rule any country where Islamists win the day in elections ... no problem. But I'm afraid that we do not have any such guarantees."
In a recent column, Dergham wrote that the "Arab Awakening will end in the Slumber of Dark Ages" if Arab women fail to take the initiative. She says they should stand up to the Islamists now for the rights of women in the new Arab world.
"These women fought with these young men to bring the change," she says. "They should not be sidelined."
Watching the Arab Spring during the past year, Dergham says, she often feels like she's on a seesaw. One moment she is exhilarated and proud of what has taken place and other times she'll find herself questioning what has been done.
"I am really not clear yet, but I still want to bet on the good day that will be coming after the turbulent times that we are witnessing now," she says.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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A Tudor Christmas was starting to resemble something we in the C21st might recognise even if there were some parts to a Christmas we would not!
The first record of a turkey being brought to Europe was in 1519. It was to be many years before this bird had reason to fear the Festive season. For the rich, the traditional meat on Christmas Day remained swan, goose etc as in a Medieval Christmas feast. In fact, in 1588, Elizabeth I ordered that everybody should have goose for their Xmas dinner as it was the first meal she had after the victory of the Spanish Armada and she believed that this gesture would be a fitting tribute to the English sailors who fought off the Spanish. However, it is not known how many of the poor of the land could carry out this order as goose remained an expensive luxury – though Christmas was seen as a special celebration.
Peacocks were also on the menu for the rich. However, it became a Xmas tradition to skin the bird first, then cook it and then place the roast bird back into its skin as a main table presentation. Therefore, on the table would be what would appear to be a stuffed and feathered peacock, when, in fact, it had been thoroughly cooked !! This practice had also taken place in some Medieval households.
The homes of the wealthy also used to cook a wild boar on Xmas Day and its head was used as a dinner table decoration. However, cooking made the head's fur go pale and so it was covered in soot and pig's grease to make the cooked head looked more natural.
Christmas puddings were made of meat, oatmeal and spices. However, cooking this combination meant that if would fall to bits once it was ready to serve. The Tudors got over this by wrapping the mixture in the gut of a pig and cooking it in a sausage shape. It was then served by slices being carved from it and being served…….with the boar's head !!
It was also the fashion in Tudor times for mince pies to be shaped like a crib. The rule of Oliver Cromwell in the mid-C17th ended this practice as it was seen as bordering on blasphemy.
1587 is the first recorded date we have of brussel sprouts being used in cooking.
With all this eating taking place, it would be difficult to imagine anyone in Tudor times wanting to do anything energetic at all. In this sense, Henry VIII helped them as in 1541, he had a law introduced (the Unlawful Games Act) which banned all sports on Christmas Day except archery. All dangerous sports were banned but archery was seen as essential to maintaining the country's military strength. This was later joined by "leaping and vaulting" which kept young men fit and strong.
In 1551 a law was passed by Edward VI that everybody had to walk to church on Christmas Day when they attended a church service. Technically this is still the law today though it is difficult to imagine anyone getting into trouble for using their car etc.
In the mid-1550's a law was also passed by the church that banned all pictures of the baby Jesus having a bath. It had been a tradition for years for artists to paint Jesus having his first bath but the church stated that Jesus was so pure that he did not need a bath – hence it was illegal to paint a picture of Jesus being bathed by Mary and Joseph.
Legends abound about Christmas. One involves where and when candles were first associated with Christmas. One of the more popular stories concerns the great Protestant leader Martin Luther. It is said that on a journey home in the winter of 1522, he was struck by the beauty of the stars shining through the fir trees that were common where he lived in north Germany. He cut off the top of one of the smaller trees and took it home. Once indoors the beauty disappeared as the stars were not there. To impress his children, he put small candles on the ends of the branches to resemble stars – hence candles at Christmas which were eventually to be replaced with Christmas tree lights. Even so, the modern Christmas tree lights are meant to represent the stars seen by Martin Luther as he journeyed home that winter's night. In that sense, Luther made his mark on our society by leading the Protestant movement in Germany in the C16th and, so legend has it, lightning up Christmas with candles.
But Tudor England was still many years away from Christmas cards, Christmas turkey, Christmas crackers, Father Christmas in his red costume and even the common use of Christmas trees.


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References for the Workshop
We have asked each catalyst presenter to provide at least one background reference for his/her topic. Please use these references as needed to bone up before the workshop.
Catalyst Session #1: Sedimentary Processes on Mars
From Ron Greeley:
- Greeley, R. et al., 2006, Gusev crater: wind-related features and processes observed by the Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit: J. Geophys. Res., vol 111, E02S09, doi:10.1029/2005JE002491.
- Greeley, R. et al., 1992, Martian aeolian processes, sediments, and features, in Kieffer, H. H., et al., eds., Mars: Tucson, Univ. Arizona Press, p. 730-766.
From Margie Chan:
- Squyres, S.W. et al., 2004, In situ evidence for an ancient aqueous environment at Meridiani Planum, Mars: Science, v. 306, no. 5702, p. 1709-1714.
- Bell, J.F. et al., 2004, Pancam multispectral imaging results from the Opportunity Rover at Meridiani Planum: Science, v. 306, no. 5702, p. 1703-1709.
- Chan, M. A., Beitler Bowen, B., Parry, W. T., Ormo, J. and Komatsu, G., 2005, Red rock and red planet diagenesis: comparisons of Earth and Mars concretions: GSA Today, v. 15, no.8, p. 4-10.
From Brian Hynek:
- Hynek, Brian M. and Phillips, Roger J., 2003, New data reveal mature, integrated drainage systems on Mars indicative of past precipitation: Geology, v. 31, no. 9, p. 757-760.
- Jakosky, Bruce M. and Phillips, Roger J., 2001, Mars' volatile and climate history: Nature, v. 412, p. 237-244.
From Phil Christensen:
- Christensen, P.R., and S.W. Ruff, 2004, The formation of the hematite-bearing unit in Meridiani Planum: Evidence for deposition in standing water: J. Geophys. Res., 109, E08003, doi:10.1029/2003JE002233.
- Christensen, P.R., H.Y. McSween, Jr., J.L. Bandfield, S.W. Ruff, A.D. Rogers, V.E. Hamilton, N. Gorelick, M.B. Wyatt, B.M. Jakosky, H.H. Kieffer, M.C. Malin, and J.E. Moersch, 2005, Evidence for igneous diversity and magmatic evolution on Mars from infrared spectral observations: Nature, v. 436, p. 504-509.
From Jeff Moersch: you will receive hard copy in the mail.
Catalyst Session #4: Volcanoes, structural geology, and tectonics on MarsMapping
From Trent Hare:
Structural Geology and GeophysicsFrom Eric Grosfils:
- Okubo, C.H., and R.A. Schultz, 2004, Mechanical stratigraphy in the western equatorial region of Mars based on thrust fault-related fold topography and implications for near-surface volatile reservoirs: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 116, p. 594-605.
- Schultz, R.A., J.M. Moore, E.B. Grosfils, K.L. Tanaka, and D. Mege, in press, The Canyonlands Model for Planetary Grabens: Revised Physical Basis and Implications, in Chapman, M.G. and Skilling, I.P., The Geology of Mars: Evidence from Earth-Based Analogues: Cambridge University Press.This piece is not yet in print, and the authors have kindly agreed to allow us to distribute a pre-print to workshop participants.
From Tracy Gregg and Susan Sakimoto:
- Zuber, M.T., 2001, The crust and mantle of Mars, Nature 412:220 - 227. [This is a very general article that covers more than just volcanology, but is a great background.
- Hauber, E. and others, 2005, Discovery of a flank caldera and very young glacial activity at Hecates Tholus, Mars, Nature 434:356-361.
- Glaze, Lori S., Baloga, Stephen M., Volcanic plume heights on Mars; limits of validity for convective models, Journal of Geophysical Research, E, Planets , 107 (10), p. 11, 2002.
- Baloga, Stephen M., Mouginis-Mark, Peter J., Glaze, Lori S., Rheology of a long lava flow at Pavonis Mons, Mars, Journal of Geophysical Research, E, Planets, 108 (7), p. 10, 2003.
- Mustard, J.F. and others, 2005, Olivine and pyroxene diversity in the crust of Mars, Science 307(5715):1594-1597.


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As a young sculptor fresh from art school, Wendy Brackman struggled with the problem of "selling out." In the video below she talks about her decision to become a party entertainer. Her act involves spontaneous sculpture of weird party hats cut by hand, from paper plates, using scissors, and joined together with staples. That was it. In need of a broader color palette, she began painting the plates with acrylic house paint before cutting them up, and as her act developed and began to take off, eventually graduated to custom-printed and die-cut cardstock blanks, instead of plates.
[wpvideo 1ypoIPCF w=598]Video by Jon Kalish
Eventually, she began to incorporate jokes and "patter" into her routine. Now, 30 years on, her alter ego Wacky Wendy is a hugely successful and sought-after party act. She's flown all over the world by corporate clients for executive retreats and other gala events. Recently, her 8′-diameter Paper Plate Mandala was exhibited at Baltimore's American Visionary Art Museum as part of their All Things Round exhibit.
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Hand sanitizer will be provided throughout area with frequent reminders of proper handwashing.
Clients will be responsible for ensuring guests within their rented public space are maintaining 6 feet of physical distancing from other individuals, unless such individuals reside together. Set ups for user groups will be adapted to meet physical distance guidelines within the rented space.
Signage will be displayed encouraging hand washing/healthy practices, mask/ physical distance protocols, and other pertinent public health order requirements. When sensible, one-way signage and/or tape should be used to limit patrons interactions.
Clients will be responsible for sanitizing throughout their contracted space through the duration of their event as recommended by the CDC. JCPRD Rental Indemnification must be signed in order to proceed
Exceptions to these restrictions may be considered in special circumstances for review by the health department. Proposals can be submitted in cooperation with rental staff.